LegendMimiru
by emichii
Summary: Mimiru wants to become a Legendary, but her mum isn't pleased with the amount of time she's spending on the computer. Plus there's an unexpected friendship with Kite, a deadly object belonging to Aura and people falling into comas.
1. Login 1

Disclaimer: I do not own .Hack//SIGN or any other .Hack characters that may appear in this fanfiction.

Legend/Mimiru

**Hi everybody! Emichii here! With my second .Hack fanfic! Whoa, I'm so proud! Well, let's get this show on the road, shall we? This is where the fun begins! Yeah! Read and review!**

_Login 1: Mimiru _

"Mimiru! There you are! How are you?"

Mimiru looked over to the sound of the voice. "…Subaru! It's so great to see you again!"

Subaru smiled. "I know."

Subaru studied the brown-haired Black Rose look-alike. "Mimiru? You look like you're deep in thought."

"Huh?" Mimiru jerked to attention. "Oh… right."

"You want to tell me about it?" Subaru asked gently.

"Uh… no, not really." Mimiru replied.

"Oh, okay," Subaru said, sounding disappointed.

Mimiru smiled weakly at the other player. "…well, you see, it's just really pissing me off how everyone just thinks of me as some Black Rose look-alike. It's really annoying. And sometimes I just really wish I could be a legendary player… so I just want to train harder and harder and become stronger… but I guess it's a pretty vague wish, dontcha think?"

Subaru considered this. "No… I don't think it's vague." She paused and then smiled. "Is there any other reason you might want to become a Legendary so much?"

"…no, not really…" Mimiru paused. "Okay, maybe there is. Black Rose can be really annoying. It gets on my nerves whenever she accuses me of copying her or whatever, but… I guess that's not really the point, is it?"

"No."

Mimiru leaned further back against the wall. "Er…" She slightly blushed. "There is someone else I guess."

"Who?" Subaru sounded genuinely interested.

"Not telling." was her reply.

"Okay," Subaru said.

"Speaking of which," said Mimiru, "What's this I heard from BT about you and Crim?"

"Nothing." she said quickly.

"_Mimiru!! You still on the computer?" The voice was high-pitched and spoken in annoyance._

_Mimiru sighed. Why was her mum always spoiling her fun?_

"_Mimiru, what have you always been doing on that computer?!?"_

"_It's called The World, Mum. I told you about it before."_

"_I don't care about what it's called, Mimiru. Last time it was this World, wasn't it? And you spent about two whole days in front of the computer without sleeping or eating and anything!" The voice was getting louder. _

_Mimiru tried to block out her mum's calls from the kitchen and continued to concentrate on the game. She would never become a Legendary player at this rate. Besides, she had a really good reason. She needed to wait for Tsukasa._

"_I was waiting for Tsukasa, Mum," _

"_Who is he? Some perverted guy who's trying to take advantage of you over the internet?" _

"_He's a girl, mum."_

"_Right. Whatever." _

"Mimiru?" Tsukasa's voice asked, pulling her back into The World.

"Oh! Tsukasa, you're here!" Mimiru said.

"She's been here for the last ten minutes, Mimiru." Subaru sounded worried. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

And yes, she was sure she was gonna become a Legendary no matter what. For all her own reasons to and nothing was gonna stop her.

"_Mimiru, GET OFF THAT COMPUTER!!"_

Okay, except maybe her mum.

**That's the first chappie. I know it's short but there'll be more next week! Hope you liked the chappie! Read and review!! **


	2. Login 2

**Hi everyone! I don't own .Hack anything okay. It's owned by Hamazaki-sensei and Izumi-sensei. By the way, next week there will be no new chappie because we're going away!!! Because it's the holidays!! Yaayyy! So this will be a longer chapter to make up for it! R&R! **

_Login 2: Kite_

Kite ran around, looking for Black Rose. "Black Rose! Black Rose, where are you?"

Finally he stopped to take a break. "Sheesh and I'm usually the late one."

He saw a Heavy Blade leaning against the wall just around the corner.

"Black Rose! There you are!" he cried as he ran up to her.

Mimiru stared at the Legendary blankly.

"Wah!" Kite blushed furiously. "I'm sorry! I thought you were someone else!"

Mimiru smiled brightly. "That's okay. I get mistaken for Black Rose a lot."

"Oh."

Then Mimiru finally realised who she was talking to. "UWAH! Y-You're Kite, aren't you?"

Kite grinned. "Yeah, what about it?"

He sweat-dropped as Mimiru cried with shiny eyes, "I never thought I'd see the day! It's the real and true Legendary Kite!!"

The whole server went quiet.

Then a whole bunch of players came running towards Kite.

"YAAYYY! IT'S KITE!!"

"HEY, IT"S THAT LEGENDARY GUY!"

"WOWWW!!!"

"ARGHHHH!!" Kite screamed like a girl. "I'm gonna be run over! You shouldn't have said that so loud!"

Mimiru watched with wide eyes as the people ran towards them.

"C'mon, let's get outta here!" Kite yelled. He grabbed Mimiru's hand and dragged her out of the crowd to the nearest portal and yelled out the name of a deserted dungeon.

When Kita and Mimiru arrived, they collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.

Mimiru said, "I'm sorry about that, Kite."

Kite just grinned. "Don't worry about it."

"…But gee, you really are a famous player," Mimiru said, "I wish I could be a Legendary."

Kite looked surprised. "It's really not as easy as you think."

"Yeah, but I think if I could become incredibly strong and be a Legendary, I'd be so happy!"

"…" Kite thought about it for a moment. "Come to think of it, I don't even know your name."

"It's Mimiru."

"Why do you want to be a Legendary so much?"

"Because I want to be really really strong and so then I won't just be a Black Rose look-alike, I can be a Legendary too!" She twitched, "Besides Black Rose is such a show-off! And I'm not the person copying her! It's not like she started _that _earlier than me!"

Kite said, "So you're jealous of Black Rose?"

"Wha-?" Mimiru reddened. "No! I'm not jealous!"

"It certainly sounds like it!"

"I am so not jealous!"

"Heh!" Kite laughed and without thinking patted Mimiru on the head as if she was a noob or something. "You're funny, Mimiru."

He stood up and stretched. "I guess I should get going now. Wonder where Black Rose is."

Mimiru said nothing but touched the top of her head and stared at Kite questioningly.

Finally she stood up and reached for her blade. "I guess I'll be going to too." She smiled. "I'm gonna train really hard so that I can get even stronger!"

Kite stared at her.

"…hey… since we're here already… do you want to party together?"

"You serious?" Mimiru cried. "That is so cool!"

"Huh? What is?"

"Getting to party with a Legendary! That's awesome!" She cheered.

Kite raised an eyebrow. "Really? I don't know what the big deal is. You know it's just like training with normal players every once in a while."

Mimiru glared at Kite. "What? So you think we're just normal players who can't measure up to you great wonderful _Legendaries?_"

"That's what you think as well," Kite retorted.

Well, it was true, the way all the other players treated Legendaries like Kite and Black Rose and Balmung and Orca…

Mimiru scowled. She glowered silently. "…That's why… I wanted to be like you guys. You're right,"

Kite said nothing but waited for Mimiru to continue.

"That's _exactly _why I wanted to be a Legendary!" Mimiru cried. "It's just sad, isn't it?"

Crap, she was stupid. Mimiru punished herself. All those Legendaries would never be able to see themselves like the normal players out there. And herself, for ever thinking that Kite was different… No, they were all the same. Every single one of them thought of themselves as superior.

"I'm leaving." Mimiru announced. She started heading for the portal.

"No, wait, Mimiru!" Kite called out.

_Kite is an idiot! _Mimiru thought, ignoring his calls.

"Crap, Mimiru, come back!" Kite ran after her and grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him.

"WAHH!" Mimiru was surprised at the sudden movement that she turned back to face him just as Kite pulled her wrist causing her to fall forward.

_CRASH!_

"…We Legendaries started out as normal players too," Kite said.

Mimiru tried to avoid his gaze. "Hmph."

"So my question is, will you still party with me?"

Mimiru flushed red. "What I want to know is how we ended up in this position!"

They stared at each other.

Kite was sitting on the ground staring at Mimiru who had collapsed on top of him.

"Err… good question." Kite stammered.

"_Very _good question. Why is that, Kite?"

Mimiru and Kite looked up towards the direction of the voice.

Black Rose towered over them, mouth twitching, looking like a thundercloud. "Kite, what do you think you're doing??!?!"

"Huh? Black Rose?" Kite and Mimiru cried.

"Yeah, who else did you think it was?" she said.

Mimiru climbed off Kite. "Er… hi Black Rose! What's up?" she said brightly.

Black Rose ignored Mimiru. "Kite, where were you? I was waiting there for ages and you didn't come so I came here because I was sure you'd come here to escape from all your die-hard fans."

"Yeah, whatever." Kite got to his feet.

"Are we gonna train or not?" Black Rose asked impatiently.

Kite and Black Rose started heading to the portal. Kite looked back at Mimiru for a moment then looked away.

Mimiru stood there and watched them leave.

Then, even though he didn't turn or give Mimiru a second glance but she heard him say, "Bye, Mimiru."

"Mimiru! There you are!" Tsukasa cried out as Mimiru emerged from the portal. "We've been waiting for you for ages."

"Sorry about that."

"Too bad, because you missed seeing the Legendaries Kite and Black Rose! They were here a few minutes ago!" Subaru said excitedly.

"What? Oh it's not too bad, I saw them before," Mimiru said. "I even got to talk to Kite."

"You're kidding!" Tsukasa said.

_Yeah, it was all true, _Mimiru knew, _but I wanted to… be like them…_

Subaru smiled at Mimiru. "You still want to be a Legendary, Mimiru?"

"Yup!" Mimiru grinned. "I'm gonna try my hardest to get stronger!"

"_Mimiru? You are still on the computer?" Her mum shouted. _

"_What? Yeah, mum, I am."_

"… _I'm going out for a bit okay?" _

"_Okay!"_

Yup, it was okay, all right. It would be fine. She would train harder and harder than before. So that the next time she met Kite, she'd be a lot stronger.

But she didn't expect to see him so soon.

Mimiru had polished off her 23rd monster or something like that when she heard the familiar voice.

"Huh?" She followed the sound till she saw Kite fighting a monster with his twin blades. Mimiru stayed hidden but watched him.

"Why are you spying on me?"

"AIEEE!" Mimiru shrieked.

Kite tilted his head to one side. "Mimiru, you're so weird," he grinned. "I reckon it's kinda cute actually."

Mimiru said nothing.

They walked along.

Mimiru said: "Why are you still playing so late at night? It's almost eleven."

"Couldn't I ask you the same thing?" Kite said.

"Yeah, I guess."

Pause.

"Hey, if our time is practically the same, does that mean you live in Tokyo too?" Mimiru cried excitedly.

Kite nodded solemnly. "So you were training.

Mimiru stared at the ground. "Yeah. I just wanted to train even harder. So that I could… be stronger… just like you, Kite."

"Me?" Kite repeated.

"Yeah, you're really strong." she said. "I guess that's why you're a Legendary…"

Kite stared at Mimiru as she continued. "…and I'm not."

Kite cried, "Hey! If you act like that about this then you'll never be a Legendary!"

"Eh?"

Kite said courageously, "That's right! If you want to be stronger, you can't have doubting feelings. You have to focus on getting stronger and having fun at the same time!"

"…having fun?"

"Yeah!" Kite said, then kinda softly he added, "Actually I think I was too focused on having fun so that's why I think Black Rose is stronger than me now…"

Mimiru's mouth dropped. "You're kidding!"

Kite smiled weakly. "And that's why I'm training so late too."

"…Hey I heard of a new dungeon in another server that's really tough. I've been dying yo try it out. I bet it would give us lots of exp!" Mimiru said brightly, fully recovering from her distress a few seconds earlier.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Kite gave her a knowing smile.

She'd made party invitations before but not to a Legendary. "…will you… party with me?"

Kite looked surprised. "Really? Me? A great and strong Legendary?"

"Yeah…"

Kite grinned, holding out his hand to Mimiru. "C'mon, let's go!"

**Read and review everyone!! I hope you liked it! Next chappie next next week! **


	3. Login 3

**Hi everyone! There's this one thing that's really pissing me off… this is FANFICTION, so the time line for .Hack is random. I know Mimiru may have started The World before Kite did, but the fact remains that obviously, Mimiru isn't exactly a legendary player, therefore, now she is trying to become one. I could have portrayed the point of a player wanting to become a Legendary with another character but I used Mimiru because I like her heaps, okay?? Got that, everyone? Sheesh… Read and review! PS. I do not own .Hack anything.**

_Login 3: Hacker_

"…You haven't changed, Subaru."

Subaru bristled but she didn't turn around to face Crim. "What do you mean by that?"

Crim grinned. "Well, you're still as busy as always with the Crimson Knights, or CC Corp or whatever it's called right now,"

"It's my job," Subaru replied, "and it's none of your business. You're nothing but an ordinary player now, Crim, so if you don't mind, please leave me alone."

Crim was silent.

"Are you still standing there?" She sighed and turned around. The Heavy-axe glared at the other player. "What is it that you want?"

"You don't look like you're enjoying The World all that much." Crim said.

"…So?"

"That's why I quit. So I could enjoy the freedom of a normal player… the reason you play The World… is it because you enjoy it, or is it just so you can keep an eye on all the other players?"

"I do this job so that players like _you _can play _safely _and have fun without dangerous monsters that no-one can defeat." Subaru said, defiantly.

Just then, thanks to Subaru's neglect of the computer stuff thingy, it beeped loudly. Crim stood aside and watched her take control.

Crim noticed the frown on Subaru's face. "What is it?"

"…A hacker."

Bear and Tsukasa were taking on monsters without fail.

"Hey, Bear, you better watch your HP… it's a bit low…" Tsukasa said warily.

Bear said, "It's no problem. The monsters here are pretty low level, I'll be fine."

The wave master looked hesitant but nodded. "If you say so."

They stood in front of the whirly orange thingy where the monster was loading, waiting for the monster to appear so they could fight it.

"Say, this monster's really taking it's time," Bear said.

Just then, a monster neither of them had seen before appeared and attacked. Bear took a fatal blow.

"Uh… what is this monster… it's too high a level to be on this server…"

"Bear! WATCH OUT!" Tsukasa cried.

Bear rolled out of the way, just in time to avoid getting crushed by the monsters fist. But not fast enough to escape another attack. Bear was glowing.

"I told you that your HP was low!" Tsukasa said, "Do you have any potions?"

"No," Bear cried.

Tsukasa was about to use a healing spell but then Bear died. And she was left to face the monster on her own.

"…A hacker?" BT repeated. "Haven't had too many of those recently."

"But it's true," Subaru said. "We have many reports of a hacker on our files."

BT shrugged. "Okay."

Just then Bear appeared next to her. He groaned and got up, dusted himself off. "I think there's been a hacker… I was just killed in one of the low-level grounds."

BT smiled. "Nah, it was probably just you not looking after your health."

"No, it was real." Bear said, "It was a really high level monster." he paused. "Tsukasa's still there."

"Tsukasa?" Subaru cried. "Oh no!"

"Hey, don't stress it." BT said. "She'll be fine."

Subaru relaxed. "Yeah, I guess she will."

"You're always so worried about The World… why don't you take it easy for once and just play as a normal player?" BT suggested.

"Yeah," Bear added. "You've been stressing out a lot lately."

"I have _not _been stressing out!" Subaru said.

_Mimiru put the headgear thingy over her eyes and adjusted the thing over her ears. She clicked the icon that said The World. As it opened, it said:_

_WELCOME TO THE WORLD._

_That's right, she thought; time to enter The World again._

When she entered, she was a bit surprised. "Whoa…" she gazed around her. "It's like there's been a hacker or something."

"ARGHH!!" a player cried. "Why are they all picking on me?!?"

"Huh?" Mimiru turned to look at the player. Monsters were floating all over the place and they were all bouncing onto that player over and over again, lowering his HP.

"Someone make them stop!!" the poor guy yelled but everyone else was in the distance, running away from the floating monsters.

Finally, the dude died. And the floating monsters picked a new target. Mimiru.

"Damn you! Damn you all!" she shrieked as she defended herself. "Who's the hacker?"

She managed to fight them all but then they came back, stronger than ever. "Who the hell's controlling these things? ARGHH!!" She had no choice but to run.

She ran over to a portal, screamed out the keywords and found herself back at Mac Anu.

"Phew!" she sighed with relief. She checked her HP. "…3 Hit Points left… Gosh, that was dangerous."

She rested the heavy blade over her shoulders and headed over to the boat where Subaru was standing, talking with BT and Bear.

"Hey guys!" she called out.

Subaru's face beamed. "Hi Mimiru."

"Mimiru, you look exhausted." Bear commented.

"You would too, if a whole bunch of flying monsters were targeting you!" she retorted.

"Mm… it does seem that there has been a hacker around here." Subaru said. "Bear just got killed by one."

"Yeah, I did." Bear said, humiliated.

"…Where's Tsukasa?" Mimiru asked.

"Ah! I totally forgot!" Subaru freaked out. "She's still alone with that high-level monster!"

"Huh?" Mimiru didn't get it.

"Come on, we have to help her!" Subaru grabbed Mimiru wrist and dragged her over to the nearest portal.

"Wait!! I have to heal myself first!!!"

Mimiru's voice faded as she and Subaru disappeared.

"Balmung, what is it?" Kite asked his friend.

Balmung said, "I'm not sure, but there's a hacker around here somewhere. It said so on the notice board."

"It did?" Kite wondered.

"Yes, it did."

"KITE!!" Black Rose came running towards them, waving her arms.

Kite winced. "Uh oh… here she comes,"

"What are you two doing, just standing here?" Black Rose put her hands on her hips. "There's a really strong monster in another server that is killing players, we have to help!"

"Okay, I'm on it," Kite said.

Tsukasa gasped as she looked at her inventory. "Oh no! I'm out of potions!"

She had been running from that monster for ages.

"WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME??!?" Tsukasa yelled, as she ran faster. Sheesh, why did they have to put the portals so far away?

"Tsukasa!" Subaru's reassuring voice called from a portal she could just see in the distance.

"…Subaru!" Tsukasa managed to gasp out. "This monster is way too strong!"

"I know, there's been a hacker around here!" Subaru yelled back.

Mimiru cried, "Tsukasa, can you heal me?"

"Huh?" Tsukasa cried, "Can't you see I'm running for my life here??!?"

"JUST DO IT!" Mimiru demanded.

"Okay, okay!"

Mimiru watched her HP bar go up. Tsukasa narrowly missed getting killed by the monster because he had paused to heal Mimiru. Mimiru ran forward and hit the monster with her heavy blade.

Tsukasa ran past Mimiru and into the portal.

"Mimiru, will you be alright?" Subaru shouted.

"Yeah, I'll be fine!"

_But this monster really doesn't die… _Mimiru knew she should've bought some potions before she came here but then before she really didn't have a chance before Subaru dragged her away.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!!" She screamed and ran the blade through the monster.

She stood still, gasping for air as she watched the monster fade away.

"…I actually killed it." She looked at her exp go up.

"Wow, Mimiru, you really have been training."

"Huh?" Mimiru looked at the Twin Blade enter the dungeon, followed by Balmung and Black Rose.

She twitched when she saw the pink-haired heavy blade. "…You again?"

"I should say the same thing!"

"Get over it," said Kite, "at least she killed the monster."

Black Rose pouted. "I was gonna kill it!"

Mimiru stared over Black Rose's head. "…then kill _that _one!" She yelled.

"Huh?" Black Rose spun around and came face to face with another monster that towered above her and the others.

"Okay, guys, this one's mine!"

"ARGHHH!" Kite ducked as Black Rose's blade almost hit him as she swung it around. "What are you trying to do, kill me or something?" he exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Black Rose turned around for a split second and then the monster attacked. "ARRGHHHHH!"

"…Black Rose!" Balmung ran towards her, scooped her up in his arms and ran off in the different direction.

The monster charged after them, making war noises.

"EEK!" Mimiru shrieked. She stared at her HP level, "I don't have enough HP to fight it!"

"Then run for it!" Kite yelled. He shot past Mimiru, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along with him.

"You… run too fast, Kite!" Mimiru gasped.

"Do you reckon Mimiru's okay?" Tsukasa asked worriedly.

"I don't know." Subaru said. "She did say she was out of potions."

"I hope she'll be okay… I mean, who knows what that hacker could do?"

**Read and review! I hope you liked it! **


	4. Login 4

**Hi everybody!! Thanks for the reviews! Well here we are at chapter 4! I guess the plot's coming out now, huh? But it didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted. But that's okay!! I like this unexpected out-of-the-blue spontaneous fanfic that even takes me by surprise! Heh, this story has a life of its own. I just have to make sure it lives it. Read and review!**

_Login 4: Banned_

"…why are we running away from it?" Black Rose cried as Balmung continued running with her in his arms.

"Because it's too strong! That's why!"

"How do you know?" Black Rose asked him.

"Because the level's too high to be in this area."

"So? Mimiru fought one and beat it."

"Don't be reckless." Balmung's voice was stern, telling her not to argue back. So Black Rose didn't. She just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Sure, Mimiru knew it was a game but game or not, Kite was clutching her wrist way too tight.

"Kite!" she gasped, "you're cutting off my blood circulation!"

Kite didn't reply. But finally when they got to a safer place he let go of her wrist and Mimiru just fell over onto her knees. She groaned as she massaged her sore wrist. "Crap, that hurt."

Kite finally spoke. He kneeled over next to her, "…sorry about that. Just let me heal you,"

Mimiru watched her HP bar go up again.

"Why were you recklessly fighting that other monster anyway… you should stop acting like Black Rose,"

Mimiru glowered. "I wasn't acting like Black Rose. I was acting like myself."

When Kite didn't say anything she continued, "I only came in here to rescue my friend Tsukasa."

Kite brightened the mood by grinning like a geek, "Why didn't you go buy yourself some potions or heel yourself first then?"

"Subaru dragged me in here before I got the chance."

Kite stood up again. "There, you should be fine now."

"…thankyou,"

"There hasn't been a hacker around for some time now," Silver Knight said. "Why would one strike now?"

Subaru frowned. "I don't know. But the hacker's intentions certainly aren't clear."

"You don't think it could be another random kid who likes hacking into things for no reason? Heck, I once knew a boy who hacked into the NASA system." BT said.

"It doesn't seem that way." was Subaru's steady reply.

"Huh?"

"It's not another one of those hackers who use their skills to take other people's money or experience. This hacker basically just wants to kill every other player in here."

"…bloodthirsty scoundrel?" BT guessed.

"No."

"You're very sure about this, Subaru." BT said.

"I'm not. I'm very worried, that's what it is." Subaru said, "I don't even know if that's all he or she's intending to do. For all I know, it might not even be a person out there who's hacking it. It could be an AI like Aura or a broken NPC."

"You've checked all the systems though," BT said sensibly. "And you said all the root towns and NPCs were in perfect shape."

"I just don't know what goes through a hacker's mind." Subaru replied. "I have never hacked into anything in my whole life."

"_Mimiru! Are you wasting time on that computer again? You know what, I'm really sick of it. Mimiru, you get off that computer NOW!!" _

Mimiru sighed. "I'm never gonna be able to become a Legendary if my mum keeps kicking me off."

Kite said, "I still don't get that legendary thing… I mean, if you're just pushing yourself to be a Legendary so hard, you're not having fun, are you?"

"Eh?"

"Why don't you just take it easy and do whatever you want at your own pace. It's not like you have a time limit or anything. The real point of The World is to have fun, right?"

Mimiru stared at the twin-blade. He was right.

Kite winked. "You know what? I'll even meet you here tomorrow and we can both play and enjoy ourselves, okay?"

"Ah… okay!" Mimiru grinned. "I-"

_The footsteps in the hallway got louder and louder until they stopped right outside Mimiru's room. _

"_I'm sick of asking Mimiru. All you ever do is play The World. You know what; I'm banning you from it until further notice."_

"_What?" Mimiru cried, as she saved her game. "You can't do that? It's not like you play The World, Mum. It's important to me!" _

"_It's important that you get off that right NOW!" _

"Mimiru?" Kite stared at the other player but she didn't move or show any movement. Finally she started talking again.

"Kite, I-"

_Mimiru's mum stormed up to the computer plug and yanked it out. That's when everything Mimiru saw collapsed into darkness. _

**Read and review! **


	5. Login 5

**Sheesh the things I do for you readers… I'm writing this week's three chapters on a Friday. Blame me for dragging it on to the last minute? Well, blame my mum. We're renovating the house. They pulled out the computer. And now that it's finally in place again I'm typing away. You know I could use renovation as an excuse for not writing this week but… and again, ah the things I do for you all…**

**Well here's the fifth chapter. I hope you enjoy. Because a lot of bloodshed went into it. R&R!**

_Login 5:Night _

"…I haven't seen Mimiru for a while," said Tsukasa. "I wonder where she's been."

Bear raised an eyebrow. "Really? I sent her a lot of invitations recently but she hasn't answered any of them so I figured she might've gone off with you and Subaru."

Tsukasa shook her head. "Well, I haven't been with her."

They were both silent for a while.

Bear smiled at Tsukasa. "Mimiru's an important person to you, isn't she?"

"Eh?" Tsukasa looked bewildered. "0h… Yep, she was my first friend in The World too."

"…She even waited in The World for two days or something for you," Bear said, "I guess she really did care for you,"

"I was really stubborn then," said Tsukasa, reminiscing. "But I guess I'm okay now, eh?"

Bear stood up and stretched. "…I wonder what happened to Mimiru. I'm a bit worried."

Tsukasa said, "Well, I'll check on her tomorrow. I'm sure she's okay."

Bear looked a bit more relieved. "Now then, should we train?"

"You're an idiot, Kite, she's not gonna come." Black Rose screwed up her nose hastily. "I mean, who cares what she said, she probably was planning on standing you up in the first place."

Kite stared hard at the grass. "She was really serious. Mimiru wants to be a Legendary."

Black Rose shrugged. "It doesn't really matter if she started playing before us or whenever, it's her own fault if she doesn't train hard enough in the first place."

Kite said nothing.

Black Rose looked worried. "Kite? What's wrong?"

Kite turned to face her, glaring with ferocity. "Training hard is not a part of being a Legendary."

Black Rose was stunned at Kite's sudden outburst.

She laughed weakly. "Ah ha ha… okay… well then, what about this? How come she still isn't here?"

Kite wasn't able to find an answer for that one.

"Hmph." Black Rose put her hands on her hips. "I'm not gonna wait around for nobody. Kite, are you coming or not?"

Kite didn't reply.

"Fine then." Black Rose turned on her heel and walked away. "Wait all you want, but she's not gonna come."

Kite bit his lip and ignored the Heavy Blade walking away.

He was still sitting cross-legged at exactly the same spot when Orca and Black Rose stopped by later.

Black Rose raised an eyebrow. "You're _still _waiting here?!? Gosh, I told she wasn't gonna come. Now would you stop this stupid thing of yours and come train with us, okay?"

Kite shook his head defiantly.

"…" Orca crouched down in front of Kite. "You know, Kite, you can't sit here for ever. That's stupid."

"I'm not gonna sit here for ever, I'm just sitting here till she comes."

Orca stood. He glanced at Black Rose apologetically. He smiled at Kite, "Well, I can't do anything to stop you."

They left.

Kite sat, unmoving. _Mimiru, why aren't you here? _

_Mimiru stared at the computer. _

_Temptation… _

_No, she screamed in her head. This is not temptation! This is just her duty to play in The World each day. Yet she couldn't disobey her mum's rule. She sighed. Besides, what else am I meant to do in the holidays when I'm not allowed to play The World? _

_She glanced at the clock. Mimiru gasped. Crap! Kite! She totally forgot! She was about to turn on the power switch but then she remembered she couldn't. _

_Besides, it's been two hours, she thought, there's no way he'd still be waiting. _

_But it still bugged Mimiru. _

_She stared at the blank computer screen and some of Kite's words came back. _

"_The real point of The World is to have fun, right?" _

_Yeah, he was right. But she had missed that point in the past coupla weeks. It was as if she had realised is too late. _

_I really wanna play, she thought. Her friends were in there and in The World she was free to do what she pleased. In The World she could be anyone she wanted. _

Kite stared hollowly at the time. It was already nighttime and still he refused to get off the computer. There was this part of doubt in him then. Maybe he really should get off the computer now.

He was about to quit when she came.

"Mimiru?"

_The house was silent when Mimiru crept to the computer. I just need to send Kite a message to tell him I'm sorry that I couldn't come, that's all, Mimiru thought. Besides, if Mum doesn't know then I'll be fine. _

Mimiru's eyes widened. "Kite? Why are you still here?"

Kite grinned. "I knew you'd come, Mimiru."

"So you've been waiting here all day? Aren't you tired?" Mimiru cried. "I mean, I'm sorry that I came so late because my mum's banning me from the computer because she reckons I spend way too much time in The World."

"Why are you here then?" Kite asked. "You just said you were banned."

Mimiru said slowly, "Well… I guess that The World means a lot to me. It's kinda like _my _world, too."

Kite said, "Yeah, it's like this to everyone who plays it,"

Mimiru nodded. The Heavy Blade sat down next to Kite, who stood and stretched out his numb muscles.

"I waited here in this exact spot for two days once." she said. "Well, it might've been less but it felt like for ever."

"Two days?" Kite repeated incredously. "Who were you waiting for?"

"Tsukasa." Mimiru said. "You know? The player who got stuck in The World?"

"…You waited two days for her?" Kite said. He stared at the ground. "When you came, I was just thinking of quitting."

Mimiru smiled weakly. "I thought of quitting too but I pushed on ahead even though other players kept annoying me, whether they thought I was being stupid and even though my mum seriously got pissed off."

"So you're playing at night now?" Kite asked, changing the subject.

Mimiru shrugged. "I don't know… I'd do anything to enter The World again."

"…I'll wait for you then." he said.

"Huh?"

Kite grinned. "I'll wait for you to come every night then, okay?"

"You'd really do that?" she said. "Besides I hadn't been thinking of playing every night in the first place."

Kite shrugged. "You want to be a Legendary, don't you?"

Mimiru smiled. "Doesn't everyone? …but that's not why I'm playing The World. I mean, you were right about something. I don't want to play The World just because I want to be a Legendary. I'm playing The World because I enjoy it."

"Right on!"

Mimiru grinned and stood up next to Kite. "So are we gonna train or not?"

Kite and Mimiru wandered through the dungeon.

"They said that this is a new dungeon. They just loaded it yesterday." Kite said.

Mimiru frowned. "And they've already hacked it."

"Huh?"

"The hacker's at it again." Mimiru said.

"You don't say…" Kite stared at the numerous monsters wandering around and attacking each other.

"It looks like the hacker's more active at night. You don't think that maybe he plays at night too?" Kite said.

Mimiru didn't answer.

"Mimiru?" Kite wondered. She was wandering on ahead of him. Kite ran to catch up. Just in time to see her set off another monster portal thingy.

Kite watched closely as Mimiru attacked the monster. He had been there the other day when Mimiru killed a monster with hacked data. He hadn't been watching too closely but he had seen her kill one.

_Black Rose couldn't take down one of those monsters._ Kite thought, _what makes Mimiru so special? _

"Kite, are you gonna help or just stand there?" Mimiru yelled as she swung her lethal weapon around.

"I'm on it!"

The monster was recovering itself. It did so much damage to them and even though they both tried to kill it, it was simply not dying.

"Should we run away?" Kite yelled.

"We should keep trying!" Mimiru yelled back.

Mimiru tried. Kite tried. They ran at it from both directions with their Heavy Blade and Twin Blades slashing into it.

Then there was this fuzzy sound, like the sound when the TV antennae can't pick up the signal. The monster disappeared. Both Mimiru and Kite stared in amazement as their exp bar went up and both of them leveled up.

"That was awesome! We killed a monster that had its data changed!" Mimiru cheered.

"Yeah." Kite said. Was it possible that only Mimiru and the members of her party could kill these creatures?

"And we leveled up! We rule!" Mimiru laughed.

Kite laughed along with her. She was simple-minded. Why didn't she realise that nobody else had killed one of these monsters?

Then they both heard some one else laughing along with them. It was a soft mellow laughing.

They both turned to face the person who was laughing.

"You did well, Mimiru. Kite."

Mimiru's eyes widened with recognition. "It's you again."

"Ah… Aura?" Kite cried.

**Read and review!! What do you think? BTW I do not own .Hack anything, got that? So don't sue me! **


	6. Login 6

**Heya mina-san!! Let's get this party started!! Yeah!! This is Legend/Mimiru, Chapter 6!! Read and review!! **

_Login 6: The hacker loves sashimi and Mimiru. _

"Aura!" Mimiru said, bewildered. "Why are you here?"

Aura did her gentle laughing thing again. "I'm always here. I look after The World, don't I?"

"Oh, yeah…" Mimiru said.

Kite shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "Well…"

Aura got serious. "But… there's a hacker in The World currently, isn't there?"

"Yeah!" Mimiru cried. "It's like he picks a target and sends all the monsters to kill whoever it is."

Kite added. "He or she also changes the data of the monsters. They're too strong."

Aura nodded knowingly. "But you two managed to kill them, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but not without losing a huge chunk of our HP," Mimiru sighed.

Aura and Kite thought with a sweatdrop on their heads. _You're not getting the point here! _

"…What are we gonna do, Aura?" Mimiru wondered.

Aura thought. "I'll get Subaru to track him down. The hacker is a regular player not an NPC."

"Oh," Kite and Mimiru both said.

Mimiru glanced at the time and freaked. "Ah! I can't believe how late it is already!"

"…" Aura said nothing.

Kite explained, "She can only play at night now because she got banned to play The World."

"That may… complicate things a little," Aura said. "…unless the hacker goes on at night,"

"Huh?" Mimiru didn't get it. "Complicate things? What do I have to do with the hacker?"

"Only you and Kite have been able to kill the hacked monsters." she said.

"And man, wasn't it hard?!?" Mimiru cried.

Kite tried to explain, "No, that's not what she meant!" _I never realised Mimiru was this slow! _

Aura had more patience. "Mimiru, the point is only you and Kite have been able to defeat these monsters. And I can't say that no-one else tried to."

Mimiru let Aura's words wash over her.

"…_only you and Kite have been able to defeat these monsters…" _

"…so that's why you two are vital in defeating this hacker." Aura said. "Only you and Kite can possibly beat him."

"How are you today, Kite?" Black Rose asked cheerfully.

"Great," Kite said his conditioned response. He and his partner wandered through the root town nonchalantly.

Black Rose raised an eyebrow, "Did your friend Mimiru make an appearance yesterday?" she asked sarcastically.

"She did, actually."

"Hmph. She certainly waited a long time though," Black Rose said.

"She had her reasons."

"She can only go on at nighttime," Kite explained. "So every night I'm gonna wait for her,"

Black Rose smiled. "Awww, Kite, you're so sweet!"

"That's why we have to keep playing at night today. Aura said that me and Mimiru have to beat the hacker." Kite said seriously.

Black Rose nodded. "That hacker's goin' down!"

_NIGHT: _

They were about to go into a building when a guy ran screaming into the town, chased by about five hundred weak monsters.

"Monsters in a root town?" Kite cried.

"Weak ones too," Black Rose said, pulling her blade out from behind her. "CHAAARGEE!!!" She ran towards the monsters, swinging the sword.

"ARGHH! Stop swinging it like that! You're gonna chop my head off!!" Kite screamed.

"Kite? Are you okay there?" Balmung bent down to look at the Twin Blade that had collapsed on the ground twitching.

"B-B-Balmung…" groaned Kite. "Black Rose is being reckless again,"

Balmung sighed. "Well, there are monsters in a root town."

"I know." Kite stood up and looked determined. "We've got to stop that hacker."

"…how are you gonna do that?"

"Me and Mimiru can beat him!" Kite said. "Aura told us."

"Really?" Balmung said.

Just then, Black Rose came limping back, exhausted. "Why are you talking about her again?"

"Wha-? What happened to you, Black Rose?" Kite exclaimed.

Black Rose glared at Kite. "Well, I was _trying _to save some poor soul but none of you would help!"

"So what happened to the guy?" asked Balmung.

"He died." said Black Rose. "I couldn't do anything about it."

Just then, Subaru and the Silver Knights came stampeding out of the control room.

"Kite! Aura told me to track the hacker down! And I found him! He's in that abandoned area that no-one can get into but the administrators." Subaru cried.

Kite said, "Can you send me to there right now!"

Subaru said, "Where's Mimiru?"

Kite looked around urgently. "Yeah, where is she?"

Silver Knight spoke up, "Come on, we have to be quick. The hacker could change location any minute now!"

"Don't worry about Mimiru." Another voice added.

"Huh?" Everyone turned towards the voice. Crim walked towards them, long spear rested over his shoulder.

He said, "I bumped into her before. She only just got on. I sent her to the place where the hacker is."

Subaru frowned. "But now she's all alone with him!"

Kite looked at Subaru urgently, "Take me to that place now!"

"But-"

Kite regarded her with his eyes. "Now!"

"Okay!" Subaru started typing away furiously on the keyboard, "We'll keep track of you all on the system,"

As Kite felt himself starting to disappear into the place where the hacker was, he saw Black Rose grinning at him. "You can do it, Kite!"

And then he began a journey falling into the other place.

Mimiru wandered through the vast territory that was the hacker's hide-out. She tensed her hands holding the blade's handle.

_Where… is the hacker? _She thought as she walked. It was quiet in the place, except for the odd background music. Strange pieces of unwanted data and data that hadn't been added to The World yet floated around.

"Hey!" she yelled out. "Mr Hacker, if you're out here, then show your face already!"

There was a sound from nearby data. Mimiru stiffened and gripped her blade harder.

"Mr Hacker? I quite like the sound of it!" A voice said as the hacker stepped out to show himself. Mimiru's eyes widened.

"Kite?" Mimiru cried.

The hacker looked exactly like Kite but there was a difference that Mimiru didn't notice. His eyes were dark and black.

_Kite? _The hacker thought. _She thinks I'm someone else, does she? _He shrugged. _Well, I guess I should take advantage of this. _

"Yeah, I am. Hello." He said, stepping closer to her.

Mimiru was so pumped up she totally didn't notice anything weird about Kite. "When's the hacker gonna show up? He's taking forever!"

"…don't worry about him, he's not important." he said.

"Huh?" Mimiru stared at him. "What's with you?"

He smirked, running a hand through his hair self-consciously. He put on the Kite act. He smiled innocently. "What's important is that you're here," He reached out and put his hand under her chin and pulled her face towards him.

_Kite? _ Mimiru was confused. She felt her face turn red as he leant closer and kissed her gently.

Kite ran through the deserted place, desperately searching for Mimiru.

"Where are you, Mimiru?" he murmured.

Just then he turned and saw her. With a guy that looked just like him. The guy was kissing her and he saw Kite out of the corner of his eye. He deepened the kiss just to annoy Kite.

"Mimiru!" Kite's voice yelled.

Mimiru broke away from the guy and shook her head as if she thought she had been daydreaming or something. But she hadn't.

"K-Kite?" she stuttered when she saw him.

_ARHHH! What's going on! _She looked from one to the other.

"Mimiru? What the hell were you thinking, kissing that guy? That's the hacker!" he ran to Mimiru.

Mimiru fumed. "Wh-what the hell was that about, man?" she waved her hands annoyed. "Argh!! Why did you do that? Ah! I thought you were Kite!! Why did you have to steal my first kiss?!?"

_Mimiru, is it? _The hacker seemed to consider what she had said.

"That is it!" Mimiru cried. "You're going down!"

"I couldn't have said it better myself!" Kite yelled. They both brandished their weapons.

The hacker looked amused. He said, "I don't get you two at all."

Mimiru glared at him, "You stole a kiss from me!"

Kite yelled, "You pretended to be me!"

The hacker said, "Oh dear, it's getting late here. I'd better be going."

"Hey!" they cried. "We're not finished here!"

The hacker winked at Mimiru. "I'll see you two very soon. Especially you, Mimiru."

Mimiru glared angrily at him. His eyes regarded hers.

_Mimiru…_

As Kite and Mimiru watched, the hacker disappeared.

**Thankyou for reading everyone!! Read and review!! **


	7. Login 7

**Hi everybody! This is chapter 7! Don't forget to review! PS. I do not own .Hack/SIGN or .Hack anything else, okay? **

_Login 7: Chaos _

Sure, she knew it wasn't really Kite she had kissed, but now that the hacker had kissed her, she couldn't even look at Kite.

"Damn it! He got away!" Kite cried, looking pissed off.

"…" Mimiru said nothing.

Kite turned to Mimiru. "Are you okay? He didn't do anything else to you, did he?"

"No…"

Kite smiled. "I'm glad."

Mimiru looked at the place around her. "What do you think we should do now?"

"Track down that stupid impersonator!" Kite sounded kind of furious.

Mimiru said, "I wonder what his name was."

"He's gone now, so I guess we have to do this again some time."

"Don't you think we should call him something instead of just 'the hacker'?"

Kite and Mimiru stared at each other.

"…I'm sorry about what he did. I think it was my fault," Kite apologized.

"Why would it be your fault?" Mimiru cried. "I was just so stupid I couldn't even tell the difference!"

"It is my fault. I let you go in here alone with the hacker even though I was meant to go with you," Kite said.

"I can look after myself," said Mimiru, "I haven't been training with you for nothing,"

They were in silence for a while.

Still trying that Legendary thing you keep going on about?" Kite asked.

"Uh… no, not really. I told you before right? I said that lately this Legendary dream has been clouding my vision… I play The World 'cause I enjoy it… that's why I'm gonna try my best to fight that hacker so that he won't ruin The World for everyone." said Mimiru.

She stretched her arms over her head. "So… what now?"

Kite blinked. "Uhh… I guess we should ask Subaru to send us back then,"

When they arrived back in the other part of The World, Subaru went up to them incredously and said, "What the hell just happened there?"

Speaking frankly, Subaru is way too polite to use that language, heh, heh...

"The hacker looks exactly like me," said Kite, "And he happens to have a liking to Mimiru."

"He does?" Mimiru said.

"He does?" Subaru said. "I thought he was just some kinda player."

"Anyway, what are you going to do now?" asked BT. "Apparently, as soon as the hacker left his hide-out in there, he did some more hacking at some beginner area. 21 players in the area died. 5 of them were in a party together, and the strangest thing was when one of them died, all the other 4 in the party died too."

"Huh?" Mimiru and Kite looked stumped.

BT sighed. "Slow, aren't you?" She explained it all again with an air of authority. "When the hacker takes down one of you, the other one will die too, therefore it makes it awfully hard to beat that hacker."

"…" Mimiru was speechless.

"KITE!!!" Black Rose screamed as she ran into the area. She was so freaked out, she looked like she was gonna hurl.

"Black Rose…" Mimiru said.

"What's wrong?" asked Kite.

"There are monsters in here!" She cried out of breath. "There are monsters in the root town!"

As soon as she had said that, loud screaming was heard from outside Subaru's headquarters. Chaos.

Mimiru and Kite ran outside and saw them all. Players ran screaming around the place, attacked and chased by low-level monsters that had suddenly gained extraordinary power-levels. Some braved the monsters and attacked with all their might.

Some were desperate to find a hiding spot. But there wasn't many places to go. When they tried to go into a portal, they were unable to teleport.

"The portals! They've been closed down!" Subaru exclaimed. She was pressing and typing away at buttons furiously.

"We're unable to log out," BT said. She said it urgently.

"Log out?" Mimiru repeated. "That's just like Tsukasa! We can't exit The World!"

Kite said, "You don't think… if we died, we could leave."

"Once we die, we automatically get transported to where we last saved. And so, after that you still can't log out." a new voice joined the conversation.

"Crim," BT said.

Subaru looked at Crim in her moment of anguish and trouble. "Please… don't bother me now."

Crim and Subaru looked at each other. The others felt awkwardness intensify between them.

Crim broke the awkward silence. He looked at the two chosen to beat the hacker. "Kite, Mimiru, I'm guessing no-one will be able to do anything till we've beat the hacker."

Kite and Mimiru nodded firmly.

"Makes sense to me," said Kite. "How long do you have?"

"…till the sun comes up," Mimiru said. "Three hours."

"Can we really beat the hacker in three hours?"

"…I don't know," Mimiru said.

"If you guys are gonna have to defeat it in three hours, then get going already!" Black Rose wrung her hands.

Kite turned to look at Subaru. "Subaru, do you know where he is?"

Subaru frowned, still attacking the keyboard furiously. "I've no idea."

"Can we contact Aura?" asked Kite.

"…I think I can," Mimiru spoke up.

"How?"

"Aura said that only we can defeat it. And she looks after The World, right? That means she knows how to send us to the hacker." Mimiru said. "If we just ask her, we can get to her."

"…will it work?" Kite looked skeptical.

Mimiru smiled. "Who knows? Let's try."

"If you're gonna try, get a move on! A monster's charging straight at us!" Black Rose cried.

"Aura!" called out Kite and Mimiru.

Just as the monster attacked, both Kite and Mimiru disappeared in a flash of bright light.

"Mimiru. Kite." Aura's soft voice clouded their hearing.

"Aura!" Kite cried. "You're here!"

He looked around him. He was standing in an empty black space. They were floating in the black space, Aura was floating there too, but light was emitting from her.

Mimiru said, "Aura, we've all been trapped here and we can't find the hacker!"

Aura said, "No-one can exit The World till the hacker's been defeated, and only two people can beat him. That's you two. The World is depending on you two. The World is on your shoulders… you have to defeat him."

"Yeah, but we can't find him." Mimiru said.

Aura took an object from nowhere and put it in Mimiru's hands. "This… will take you to where the hacker is." Her tone darkened, "However, if you use it too many times, the user will suffer greatly.

_Suffer greatly? _Mimiru didn't understand. She took the object and said quickly, "Thankyou Aura," she turned to Kite. "Let's go."

They disappeared once again to another server and another place. It was a beginner place and once again, huge monsters too high level to be in this place was attacking a newbie. The noob was crying out and scared.

"Mimiru, we have to help him!" Kite said.

"…You got it!"

They both grabbed their weapons and attacked. The monster was strong but they tried. Mimiru swung, again and again, but every time her HP suffered a bit.

_I… am not going… to stop… or give up! I will defeat you! _

Kite did the last strike and the monster collapsed. The noob widened his eyes.

"You guys did it! You guys defeated the monster."

Mimiru looked at the player. Something was suspicious about him…

"I hope you're okay now," Kite said.

The player smiled. "Heh heh… of course I'm okay!!" In front of Mimiru and Kite's astonished faces, the so-called newbie morphed into the Kite-look-alike with the black eyes.

"YOU!!" Mimiru cried.

**That's the end of the seventh chapter! I hope you like it! Well, it looks like it's the end of The World as we know it… who knows what could happen next? This is pure chaos. Find out what happens next week! Read and review!! **


	8. Login 8

**Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews! This is chapter 8! Read and review! PS. I don't own .Hack. **

_Login 8: It's the end of The World as we know it! _

Kite felt anger rising in him. "You!" he yelled. "Stop hacking and impersonating me! Let's get even now and no more running away!"

The hacker just laughed. "Why should I listen to you?"

Kite grunted and ran for the hacker with his weapons poised at the ready. In split time, the hacker blocked his twin blades with his own.

"You can't possibly beat me." he said calmly.

"I can if I try!" Kite yelled.

To Kite's surprise, the hacker suddenly gasped out in pain. Kite saw that he had been hurt. He met Mimiru's eyes; she was smiling at him.

"And even if he can't beat you, I will!" she said, as she slashed at the hacker from the back again.

"…" the hacker paused. "But… I'm a hacker, aren't I? I can do anything!"

Kite and Mimiru stared awestruck as he regained all his HP.

"…No way!" Kite cried.

"Well, I must be going now, bye bye," he said, looking like he was in a hurry as he pushed Kite away.

"Wait! You can't go!" Mimiru cried out. Kite struggled to get up from the ground.

"Of course, how thoughtless of me," the hacker smiled directly to Mimiru. "I'll leave you with a parting gift!"

Suddenly invisible slashes and attacks struck both Mimiru and Kite. Kite struggled to keep himself alive but could barely stand up. The twin blade lay on the ground, scratched and bruised, breathing hard.

Mimiru was crouched on the ground next to him, in the same condition. Just as the hacker was disappearing, she could still hear the hated voice cheerily saying: "See ya, Mimiru!"

"No! Don't go!" she gasped out.

The hacker looked at Mimiru curiously. She called out, "Just one thing… tell us… what's your name?"

As a mysterious yellow light surrounded the hacker and he started to fade away, he yelled out two syllables.

"Franzi!"

"Subaru…?" The Long Spear looked over Subaru's shoulder to see what she was doing.

"Leave me alone, please!" Subaru's voice went up a few decibels. "Crim, please, I wish you'd leave me alone and stop bothering me."

The Heavy Axe continued typing and pressing buttons and controls.

"…don't you think… that'd be awfully lonely?"

Crim watched as Subaru finally turned around to face him.

"Crim, you're no longer part of our administration, you're just a regular player now. You don't need to keep hanging around here." Subaru's voice was cold.

"And you, Subaru," said Crim smoothly, "You keep thinking you an do everything by yourself with no help from anyone-"

"No!" Subaru cut him off. "That's not-"

"That's exactly what you've been doing," Crim said. "You don't even enjoy The World anymore. The only reason you even keep playing is to look over The World and make sure everything's right. I admire that, but you don't play like you're enjoying yourself and-"

"Of course I'm not enjoying myself! The World is chaos right now and-"

"Subaru…"

"-and you keep hanging around here to annoy me!"

Crim watched her as she turned away from him.

"We have to find him again!" Mimiru cried. "Just a little less than three hours to go!"

Kite got up and adjusted his hat. "Ugh…" he groaned.

"I just need to use this…" Mimiru looked at the object Aura had given her. It was a silver sphere with light emitting from it. All she needed to do was use it and it would transport them directly to where Franzi was.

"But Mimiru, if you use it too many times, Aura said you'll suffer horribly," Kite said, even though he still didn't have a clue what Aura had meant.

"It's only the second time!" Mimiru said. "We just have to make sure to beat the hacker. Even if I end up suffering or whatever, it'll be okay because we're doing it for The World, right?"

"…right." Kite said softly.

The silver globe shone brightly as it enveloped Kite and Mimiru in light and transported them away.

"You think they can do it alone? You think _you _can follow everything through by yourself? Is that what you think, Subaru?"

Subaru yearned for Crim to shut up.

"… What are you getting at?"

"Aura said that only Mimiru and Kite can defeat the hacker, correct?" Crim said.

"Correct." Subaru said, sounding slightly tired.

"But that's not true."

"Huh?" Subaru turned again to look at Crim. "What are you spouting now?"

"Maybe Mimiru and Kite will be the ones to take down the hacker, but they can't do that without everyone's support. We're the ones who are cheering them on and watching over them and supporting them. That's how they're going to be able to beat the hacker. With everyone's support!"

"…support…" Subaru repeated.

"It's just like you, Subaru!" Crim's voice rose as he got more determined. "You think you can do everything by yourself but you can't! You need everyone's help and support too! That's the point of The World, right? We have all our friends here by our side! We don't have to do things alone!"

"…" Subaru said nothing.

Crim smiled a small smile. Subaru stared up at him.

"So what I wanted to say was, stop doing things alone because we're all here to help! And maybe…" for once, Crim's voice started getting a little bit hesitant. "… Subaru, I've been standing here and watching you from a distance all this time so that you'd be okay… but I want you to know… I'll be here too! And together we can all defeat this hacker!"

"Crim…" Subaru said slowly, unsure of what to say next.

Crim took both of her hands in his.

"We can all defeat this hacker right? So let's do just that!"

A new feeling of hope and determination washed over Subaru. Maybe…. everything would be okay after all. And for a long time, she had avoided Crim but now, even though all she could utter were a few words, she knew she could never be able to push him away again.

"Thankyou, Crim."

Players that kept dying and dying.

Monsters that kept killing and killing.

Players who couldn't log out.

Tele-portals that wouldn't teleport.

Everyone was stuck in this World, with no chance of leaving.

And to think that it was all his fault. All of it was his own doing and it was all done with his very own hands.

Franzi laughed at his position right now. No, not even the Legendaries could fight him and the administrators couldn't even track him down. Even the being 'Aura', the protector of The World, was unable to stop him.

The Kite look-alike thought about Kite. He really wasn't anything special, Franzi decided. But the girl player with him, Mimiru… she wasn't a Legendary and she was a normal player. Why was she even up for something like taking down a hacker that couldn't be taken down?

No one could defeat him. How would they even do it? They couldn't even bring his HP down low enough before he healed himself again.

Suddenly, the sound of people teleporting made him aware. He had tangled with the data so that no-one could teleport, so how…?

"Franzi, we're gonna beat you now! And we're not gonna let it drag on any longer!" The annoying Legendary Kite was at it again.

Franzi sighed. "Give it up, will ya?"

The Heavy Blade next to Kite glared at him with ferocity. "I have 3 hours, so let's make this short and sweet!"

"…three hours?" he repeated.

"Yeah," Mimiru said. "That's how long I have."

Well, actually, they're already down to two and a half hours, but no-one's counting,

Franzi smirked. "Short and sweet? Bring it!"

**Bring it! Ooohh… it's a cliffy! well, that's the chapter for this week, I hope you like it! Don't forget to review! **


	9. Login 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own .Hack. **

**Sorry everybody, this is gonna be a short chapter. Read and review! **

_Login 9: Give up! _

Time left: 2 and a half hour till sun rise.

Could they do it in time? Mimiru bit her lip. It sounded impossible.

Beat a hacker?

She was teamed up with a Legendary. A few weeks ago, she would've thought anything was possible with a legendary player but now… her perspective had changed.

_Being a Legend was nothing. It meant nothing at all. If you couldn't protect The World you loved then it would go to waste. _

The Kite-look-alike stared at Mimiru sweetly. "What are you waiting for, Mimiru? Aren't you going to attack?"

"Mimiru?" Kite looked at Mimiru worriedly. She was deep in thought. "Mimiru! Pay attention!" He dove in front of her to protect her from the blades of Franzi.

Mimiru jumped to attention. "Ah!"

Kite grunted and pushed off the hacker. He took up a fighting stance.

Franzi sneered. "No-one can beat me!"

She fought and he fought. But Franzi could do anything he wanted. He wasn't called a hacker for nothing.

Mimiru felt sweat on her forehead. Her hands were so tired, she could barely hold up her blade. She wanted so badly right now to lie down and fall asleep. She wanted right now… to give up. If she could just give up right now then she could die happy.

Why was she feeling so hopeless? It was all the pressure, the pressure! But it dawned on her then, she had strived so hard. Worked so hard, trained so hard, fought so hard. And was it all for nothing? Could she simply give up now?

Mimiru tried so hard to regain her spirit but right now all she felt was tiredness. Did she ever really think she could've defeated a hacker that was destined to destroy The World? She glanced at Kite, who wasn't even thinking of backing down.

Well, what'd she expect? He was a Legend. He never seemed to lose his spirit and he never gave up. Was that what being a Legendary was all about? But it was hard. Were all her fantasies just some kinda unreachable illusion?

Didn't Kite feel the pain too? Why didn't he feel the urge to just keel over and beg for mercy? Didn't he see the ill-fate in store for them?

Kite looked at Mimiru. He saw that there was a defiency in her fighting. She was moving slower and it wasn't just because she was hurt or tired.

He fended off the hacker and yelled over to her, "Hey, Mimiru, are you okay?"

She didn't reply.

"Mimiru?"

Mimiru was standing alone next to him. She was breathing hard and her shoulders sagged. She held the blade, point down onto the ground and she looked up slowly at him.

"Kite… I wanna give up. I guess… I just wasn't meant to be a Legend after all."

"No! Don't give up!"

Her voice was frightened and high-pitched. Subaru clenched her hands into fists as she watched them on the screen. Crim watched, brow creased feverishly.

"...Mimiru… you were the one who never gave up. You can't… just do that now! The whole World is depending on you!" Subaru cried.

Mimiru couldn't hear her. No-one could.

Only Crim heard Subaru's cries of anguish.

"If only… I could just be there with her and Kite," she contemplated. "I may not be able to fight half as well as Kite but… I just wanted so badly to be with her. I could at least be there to support them."

"You are supporting them," Crim said.

"What good is that when they don't know we're all here watching them?" Subaru asked sharply. "I know that BT and Bear and Tsukasa and the others… they're with them too- in a way. They're either watching them or hoping in their hearts that Mimiru and Kite can beat that hacker. We're all with them but… when we're not standing in the battlefield, right next to them, so we can feel exactly the pain they're feeling. There's no way we know exactly what they are facing right now when we're not right beside them, fighting when they are, hurting when they are…" Subaru took a deep breath.

Crim watched her intently as she continued.

"I know that Aura said that only Mimiru and Kite can beat this hacker but if I could just fight with them, I know that it would help them to know we're all supporting them!" cried Subaru.

"…You could use Aura's object to get to where the hacker is," said Crim. "Just get everyone together, then ask Aura to use the object to teleport everyone to the hacker."

Subaru started typing away frantically, trying to contact Aura. "Crim, please get everyone else here immediately," then while she typed on, she thought in her mind, _Please, Mimiru. Kite. Just hold on! Don't give up! We-We're gonna be there soon! _

Mimiru breathed hard. Franzi raised his eyebrows. _I know… that any second soon… that girl over there is gonna give up. She thought she could become a Legendary, just like every other person in The World, but just like them all, she's gonna lose it and give in. Then… it looks like The World is finally gonna collapse. _

_Heh… so much for the person who was gonna save The World! _

Mimiru felt the Blade slipping from her grip. It seemed to get heavier and heavier, like some burden on her shoulders, slowly pushing her down, wearing her down to nothing.

Aura… that great guardian of The World… even she was wrong. Leaving the fate of The World to Mimiru… Kite and Black Rose should've been the ones to beat Franzi, not her.

And to think that once, she even thought it was possible. She thought she could beat this guy and everything would be fine. Well, ha ha, Mimiru, she was so wrong! Mimiru chided herself in her mind and her sword slipping lower and lower from her grasp.

_I'm sure… that there's a time to give up. I know that everyone has to give up eventually. _Mimiru's head lowered and the sword slipped.

Kite's eyes widened as Mimiru's voice said softly:

"…I'm sorry, Kite…"

She collapsed onto the ground, and the Heavy Blade followed suit, falling onto the ground, making a huge rasping clang.

…_I give up._

**Thanks for reading. Next chapter out next week! R&R!**


	10. Login 10

**Disclaimer: Don't own .Hack or anything else of any importance. Except this story of course… and all my fanfic… **

_Login 10: We're all here with you, Mimiru! _

"Mimiru!" Kite ran to Mimiru's side. "Mimiru, get up! You can't give up now, you can't ever give up! Not when we're so close!!"

Mimiru curled up onto the ground, voice so soft, it was barely a whisper. "Kite… that's not true… we were never close and we never were gonna be. This… is too much. It's just not possible…"

It was a game, sure, but Kite saw, just then, a small tear slip out of Mimiru's eyes and slid down her cheek. It hit the ground with a soft splish.

_I… can't do anything. I'm weak and I was stupid. I couldn't ever have protected anyone or anything. Even now… I can't even protect this World. Even when it's become a part of me… I can't- I'm useless… _

Tears started falling from her eyes. Kite could do nothing but watch. Unfortunately Franzi took this moment to strike.

"YOU STUPID GIRL!!! YOU REALLY THOUGHT YOU COULD SAVE THE WORLD???" Franzi started running full speed at them, blades at the ready. "YOU THINK YOU COULD BE THIS PLACE'S SAVIOUR? YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD BE A LEGENDARY? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?? YOU CAN'T SEE THAT THIS PLACE WAS DESTINED TO DIE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?"

Mimiru stayed in her position. Kite turned around to fight back.

"Y-you know what, Franzi?" Mimiru's voice was frail.

"Huh?" was the hacker's reply.

"You're right."

"Wha-?" Both Franzi and Kite fell back with the two words.

"…you're right, Franzi." Kite could see a faint smile play on Mimiru's lips. "All along, I believed in something that would never have worked. And I did think I could do anything. I thought I was good enough to become a Legendary, even save The World… now that I can hear all of this out loud… I can finally realise how stupid I really was. Because… all along…"

Kite's eyebrows were raised in the most awkward position.

"…all along- I… I never would have been able to…"

"LOSE TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU, FRANZI!!!"

All three of them jerked up as the loud voice piped up. Subaru and all the others appeared on the edge of the battlefield.

"We're friends and we're never gonna let Mimiru lose to someone like you," Subaru's voice was clear and determined, a different kind of strength came from her voice now, something Mimiru hadn't heard before.

"S-Subaru…"

"…we were never strong and we didn't even try," Subaru said. "We were just bystanders watching the stronger ones do the fighting. Aura didn't ever recognize us to be heroes or fight you."

Kite and Mimiru stared open-eyed at the player. She continued, in a softer tone, "Besides… all of us we were… afraid of losing and afraid of getting hurt… so afraid we wouldn't even consider giving up our lives to save our World."

"…Subaru-" Mimiru started.

BT, Tsukasa, Bear, Crim and Black Rose looked on with Subaru. "But even if we're not as strong as Kite and Mimiru, we're not going to let them fight alone anymore! Because what we're all fighting for here is one of the most precious things of our lives! The World is like an alternate universe for us! It's a place where we can play and enjoy ourselves and truly become the kind of heroes we want to be. That's why… that's exactly why-"

"-I won't let you take The World away from us!"

They all looked over at Mimiru in shock. The Heavy Blade struggled to stand up when her HP bar was so low. They held their breath as they witnessed the agony it took for her to get to her feet. And even then, Mimiru wobbled unsteadily.

The blade felt twice as heavy as usual when she picked it up. It took so much more effort now, but she fought the urge to give up.

Franzi was watching everything disbelievingly. "What the-"

"I'm sorry." This came from Mimiru. "I'm sorry for thinking I could save the World. I'm sorry for trying so hard to do something so hollow and pointless like be a Legendary. I'm sorry I'm so weak. I'm sorry that I wanted to give up. And I'm sorry for trying to save The World by myself…"

"What are you getting at?" whispered Kite.

Mimiru gave a typical Mimiru-like grin that brought all the courage back to her. "…because no-one can save The World without their friends by their side to help them!"

Subaru felt tears in her eyes then. She was… finally truly able to help, not just standing back and watching everyone else fight behind the big screens. She couldn't do anything by pressing buttons, she had to be on the field with her friends to give them to courage they needed.

Mimiru took a deep breath and wiped away a tear from her eyes. She took her blade and took it by the ready.

"All right!" she exclaimed, "Let's take down the hacker and save The World!!!"

"…yeah, yeah, really emotional, fascinating," said Franzi. "But talking's not gonna help you save _this _World!"

"Ugh!!" Mimiru fell back a step as she felt pain surging again. Tsukasa ran up to her.

"…I don't do much combat, but I'll give you my HP!" she said.

"What?"

Tsukasa held up her wand and started transferring HP to Mimiru.

"What are you doing?" cried Mimiru. "If you give all of yours to me, then-"

"It's for a good cause." said Tsukasa. "And stop talking and go fight! You have to fight for The World we all know and love!"

Crim, Black Rose, Bear and BT launched into battle. Kite was weak too and he took time between strikes to check on Mimiru.

"I'm glad you're back to the Mimiru I know," he said.

"Yeah," she huffed. She was clutching the blade so tight she swore that her fingers were bleeding, and just from clutching a sword.

Franzi was… undefeatable.

And the time till sunrise kept ticking away. Mimiru couldn't do anything to stop that second hand of time from moving.

Tsukasa was weak now. Mimiru hardly had any HP. She was on the brink of death.

"I'll give you some more Hp, Mimiru?" Tsukasa gasped.

"N-no!" Mimiru cried. "No! Tsukasa, no matter what, you have to stay alive!"

"S-so do you, Mimiru," she replied.

"This is a waste," she said. "Nothing we can do, even together can beat this guy. Only something… of The World… something that is more powerful than anything else, like Aura."

"…" Kite didn't know what she was getting at.

"Aura's object!" yelled out Mimiru, thrusting it out in front of her.

"What?" exclaimed Kite. "Mimiru, NO!"

**That's login 10. Read and review! **


	11. Login 11

**Yes!! Don't own .Hack, okay? Lemme give you all a recap. If Kite's reaction didn't make sense to you then just go back a few chappies. Aura said that the object was vastly powerful but if used too many times, the user would suffer greatly. So… will Mimiru use the object? Or will Kite stop her- and let The World suffer? Dun dun daahh!!! Stay tuned for Login 11!!!! Read and review! **

_Login 11: The user of Aura's sacred object_

"If we… use Aura's object then… we can beat him!" Mimiru managed to gasp out in between gasps for air.

"No, Mimiru!" Kite yelled, "If you do that, you could get hurt-"

"It's worth it for The World, isn't it?" Mimiru yelled back.

"…Mimiru…" Aura's gentle voice was heard.

Mimiru looked up. Then to her left, and her right. "…Aura?" she wondered confused. "Where… are you?"

"I'm here." The voice replied. "You don't have to see me to know I'm here."

Mimiru grasped the object super tight.

Everyone else around her seemed frozen in time. It was as if time had stopped and it was just Mimiru talking to Aura's voice.

"Aura, why-"

"Is there really no other way for you to beat this hacker?" Aura's voice sounded sad.

"Huh?"

"Mimiru, the reason I said the object's user would suffer greatly is because by itself that item you're holding has no power. On its own it has nothing and it can't do anything. The reason it's been able to transport you all over the place after the hacker is because it's been drawing on all your energy and power, Mimiru."

"What? I don't… get it." Mimiru was bewildered.

Aura's voice paused then started talking again. "You see, you believed that my object was extremely powerful but if you think back that everything that item has been able to do and it was all because of the power it borrowed from you. The truth is, Mimiru, you have to power to beat this guy."

"…Ah…"

"But you're right Mimiru. That object can destroy that hacker and can change everything back to normal and change The World you love back to the way it was. However, Kite is right."

Mimiru felt her sweaty hands loosen on the object.

And even though she couldn't see Aura just then, she could imagine the spirit of The World with a horrible sad expression on her face. "Kite's correct… about how if you use the object you'll be… destroyed."

Aura's object fell out of Mimiru's hands and hit the ground. It didn't make a huge sound but a soft tinkling sound. The tinkling sound unfroze everyone.

Mimiru was the one frozen in thought.

"Mimiru?" Kite wondered. "What's up?"

He went up to Aura's object. "You dropped it…" He bent to pick it up.

"No!"

"Wha-?" Kite jerked his head up.

"Don't touch it, Kite," Mimiru said. "I'm gonna be the one to use that object. So if you touch it now then you'll… be destroyed along with me."

Subaru and the others gasped.

"Mimiru…" Tsukasa spoke up, "what do you mean?"

Franzi's lip was curled in contempt. "I don't give a damn about what you're talking about. As far as I'm concerned, you and that item are just in my way!"

He took a huge running leap towards Mimiru and charged. Just as his blades hit Mimiru a huge light started shining from Aura's object.

"WHAT THE-?" He yelled.

Mimiru's eyes were white and blanked out. "I told you, didn't I? I was gonna be the one to use this object! And I just did!"

"NO!! MIMIRU!!" Kite yelled.

"Mimiru!" Subaru gasped.

"Mimiru?!?" Tsukasa stuttered.

"MIMIRU!!" Bear cried.

"Mimiru…" BT said.

"Mimiru!" Crim shouted.

"MIMIRU!!!!!" Black Rose exclaimed.

As Kite and the others watched with wide eyes, the bright light enveloped Mimiru and the hacker.

Mimiru's voice was fading fast as she yelled over the blinding light. "This object has no power unless it borrows energy from its user!! So the only way I can take you down, Franzi- is to DESTROY YOU ALONG WITH ME!!!"

The light filled up the whole screen and all the players felt themselves being blown away by the power of the blast. As the light shot out they all heard the horrifying scream of pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

And Aura watched everything. _Mimiru… you're really going to… let yourself be destroyed… just for the sake of The World? Even when you know that The World… is an unstable place. You know that its possible things will happen to your physical body outside the monitor… yet you still chose to sacrifice yourself? Is… The World… really that important to you? _

_Tsukasa opened her eyes. _

"_Where… am I?" she murmured. She blinked her eyes open and closed a few more times then opened them wide. _

_WHATTHE? _

_She jumped up to her feet. She had collapsed onto the ground and the still beeping head gear thingo was lying on the ground next to her. She stared at the computer screen which was black. _

_The World had… automatically shut down? She wondered. Then she remembered all those scenes she had seen before she had been logged out. _

"_AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!" _

_Tsukasa felt her shoulders tightened. That had been Mimiru. What had happened to her? Was she gonna be okay? And more importantly… what had happened to her real body? _

_Mimiru blinked her eyes open. _

_The warm rays of sunlight streamed in from the window next the computer which was blank. _

_Am I… alright? _

_It was morning now and in the last 2 and a half hours she had been in such a daze. She didn't understand. Aura had said that she'd be destroyed or at least 'suffer greatly' but here she was, her physical body perfectly fine. _

_Then suddenly she dropped her head gear thing. It fell to the floor with a huge crash and was smashed to a hundred tiny pieces. _

_Mimiru's eyes were opened wide. What… was that? She wondered in her head. What was that I felt just then? _

_It was like a sharp twisting kind of pain deep inside her stomach. She gasped again as she felt it once again. It made her want to vomit. _

_Plik! _

"_Huh?" she wondered. What was that sound? _

_Plik! Plik! _

_Then she saw it. Tiny little drops of blood falling onto the computer keyboard and trickling between the keys. Her eyes widened. The blood was coming from her hands. It trickled down her fingers, along her wrist and dropped onto the keyboard._

_Her hands… they were… terrifying. _

_What? What… is this? She cried in her head. _

_Her fingers had tiny little cuts and bruises all over them. The palms of her hands were black and blue with bruises and there were the cuts that were all of a sudden rapidly appearing all over her hands. _

_Then something zipped by her side. It started to bleed. And hurt. A lot. _

_She stared down. Her shirt was cut at the side with a light gash that dug into her skin. A gaping red mark was left there and tiny beads of blood started appearing. _

_Tears appeared in her eyes. "WHAT IS THIS?" she cried. _

_It happened again. Cuts started appearing all over her body; they were tearing her clothing and cutting her cheek. It hurt. _

_And all through it the blood kept dripping onto the keyboards. And then her stomach twisted again with that deep pain. _

"…_the user will suffer greatly." _

_SUFFER GREATLY…_

_The two words repeated themselves over and over to Mimiru. Now the pain was going too far. These cuts all over her body and the horrible twisting burning in her stomach. _

_Then a huge burning pain took over her whole body, exactly the same as the pain she felt when she had been whited out by Aura's sacred object. _

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!" _

_The scream was followed by the heavy thud as Mimiru felt herself falling off the chair and hitting the floor. Blood continued to trickle from her hands and at the same time tears kept falling into a puddle on the floor. _

_And she lay there, in her tattered clothes and injured body, and slowly slipped into a loss of consciousness. _

**Did that sound like a bit of horror? Well, it wasn't meant to. Oh well… Don't forget to review! Because if you don't, Mimiru may never see the light of day again!! Mwahahahahaha!! Nah, just kidding! I just hope you'll review to encourage me to keep writing this! R&R! **


	12. Login 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own .Hack! La la la!! La la la... la la la la! **

**I just had a Good Charlotte song in my head. I still have it in my head actually! Well, here we are at login 12. I'm guessing this might be my second-last chapter but it really depends. So then, let's get it started! Don't forget to review! **

_Login 12: For Mimiru _

The World was fixed and reset to make sure everything was safe for playing again. Crim and Subaru looked over all the resetting of The World. And when it was finally ready, players were finally able to enter the game again in perfect safety and have fun in The World that they loved so much.

_Tsukasa was nervous as she entered the building. She wondered if Mimiru was alright. When she had found out what had happened to her, both she and everyone else was thrown into a huge panic. Since Tsukasa and Subaru happened to live closest to her, they tried their best to make sure their friend was okay. _

_She hadn't seen Mimiru for two whole weeks. And all she knew about her was that for now reason, she had collapsed while playing The World and mysterious injuries had appeared on her body. And now she was recovering in the hospital. But so far, she hadn't regained consciousness_

_Tsukasa gripped her knuckles till they hurt. And she realised they were shaking uncontrollably. It's really scary… all of the memories of being stuck in The World came back to her. It's a really… horrifying experience. I don't… ever want to be alone and stuck in their again… and not know what's happening to my real body…_

_Tsukasa peeked around the door to Mimiru's private room. She saw Mimiru's mum talking to a doctor. Thinking she shouldn't interrupt, she hid behind the door and tried not to eavesdrop but their words just washed over her. _

"_..It's all my fault! If I had never banned her from The World, she wouldn't have tried to sneak on! And she wouldn't have been hurt!! I'm… such a horrible mother!!" _

"_Ma'am, don't burden yourself! It's not your fault. I've heard all the insecurities of The World have been straightened out."_

"_So? If they 'straighten' them out now won't help my daughter! Oh… Mimiru!" _

_Tsukasa watched through the crack in the door. Mimiru lay on the bed, heavy bandages all over her face and bodies, a breathing mask on, plenty of oxygen tubes and wires and stuff running all over the place. _

_Tsukasa took in a huge breath of air and collapsed to her knees. She hugged herself tight as she leaned against the wall. _

_I've… seen this all before. It's so horrifying… she hugged herself tight. It was scary… like watching everything that had happened to her before replay itself- but not to her- to her best friend. Mimiru… she thought tearfully. _

_The doctor person comforted the lady who was inconsolable. The lady left the room in tears and the doctor right behind her. _

"…_Mimiru?" Tsukasa plucked up her courage and entered the room. Mimiru lay unmoving in the bed. Tsukasa checked the breathing mask. Tiny, TINY puffs of breath appeared and disappeared but they were irregular and short. _

"_Mimiru, please be all right," Tsukasa said, "You're my… very best friend and you can't die! …don't die, Mimiru!" _

_Mimiru had been so important to Tsukasa. Because when Tsukasa was stuck in The World and going through such a traumatic and frightening time; and Tsukasa was being a stuck-up person who didn't want anyone's help; she still tried to be her friend. _

_And she waited for him. Even though Tsukasa had been so sure she wouldn't wait there for ages since Tsukasa didn't have any clue what the time outside The World was. And she had waited. _

_Everyone had been chasing after Tsukasa and her 'monster' so that's why she'd been so alone. After all, she'd been running away all her life and trying to stay away from everyone so she wouldn't get hurt. She'd thought it was fun and became an impudent brat. _

_When Mimiru had been nice to her and tried to make friends, she ran away. _

_But after a while, they really did become friends. And they met all these other people too. _

_And now… Mimiru was the one stuck in a hospital bed and alone. With no-one who was able to get to her. _

"_Please, Mimiru! Please wake up!" she begged. _

_The figure lay, unmoving. She grabbed Mimiru's hands and squeezed them tight but they were freezing cold and when Tsukasa watched them closely she could see all the bandages and bruises on them. _

"_Don't ever give up, Mimiru! You taught me that! And you were my best friend, you can't die now! You… you were with me all the time when I was alone… that's why I won't… I won't let you suffer! You can't- die, Mimiru!" Tsukasa's voice grew stiffer as she choked back tears. _

"_Don't die, Mimiru!" _

Subaru and Crim stood at Mac Anu and watched all the players and noobs talking excitedly and laughing.

"It's so nice to see everyone enjoy themselves like this, isn't it, Crim?" Subaru asked happily.

"Yeah." Crim said.

Subaru frowned darkly. "What's got you so sad?"

Crim smiled sadly. "Our dear little Heavy Blade… who is still stuck in hospital."

Subaru jerked up. "Oh… Oh no…" she covered her eyes with her hands. "Mimiru…" she murmured.

"Subaru?" Crim wondered. "…Yeah, it's very… sad,"

Subaru started sniffing and crying a little, even though it was a game. "Ohhh… I keep telling myself that I tried so hard to be there for her. I had brought us all there so we could fight alongside her. But in the end… she still ended up getting hurt. It really hurts! It hurts that I couldn't have done something more to help! She's… our friend! And in the end… she still ended up… like that…"

Her voice trailed off. Crim stared at her compassionately.

"It's okay," he said hoarsely.

"…" Subaru gripped her Heavy Axe.

"It's okay," he repeated and she let go of the Axe dramatically. It fell to the floor with a thud and she threw her arms around Crim, hugging him tightly.

"_It really hurts! It hurts that I couldn't have done something more to help! She's… our friend! And in the end… she still ended up… like that…" _

_Why wasn't there… something I could've done? _Subaru thought bitterly.

"Why are you thinking like that?" Crim asked. "Instead of making yourself suffer by thinking about what you could've done back then, why aren't you thinking about what you can do for her right NOW?"

His words hit her straight on target.

_There's still… something I could do for Mimiru… _

**No actually, I think I'll change my mind. They'll probably be another chapter. So I guess you can say this was the third-last chappie, huh? Sad… I guess cuz this fanfic has gone on for so long. _It's only so long because I became a slacker and didn't update for a month or so! _Well then, read and review! **


	13. Login 13

**Hello!!! Our second-last chappie!! WOOT! I don't own .Hack, okay? Well here's our 13****th**** chapter! Read and review! **

_Login 13: Waking _

"_MIMIRU!!" _

_The high-pitched voice cried as a flustered young lady ran into the hospital. The hospital staff were quite alarmed. _

"_Er, Miss, visitor hours will be over very soon so maybe you should consider coming back tomorrow…" _

_Subaru looked back at the person at the desk for a moment. And smiled. "No, sorry. My friend really needs me now," _

"…_Subaru?" Tsukasa looked up as Subaru came in. "Y-You came!" _

_Subaru smiled solemnly. _

"_How's she doing?" she asked, bending over to look at Mimiru. _

"_Not too good," Tsukasa said. "She's not even breathing all that well and she still hasn't woken up since she first came here." _

"_Mimiru…" Subaru started. "Don't give up, okay? Keep fighting!"_

_It may have looked like she was just talking to some unconscious figure, but she hoped with all her might that her words would get to Mimiru. _

"_S-Subaru…" Tsukasa said. _

_Subaru went on, "Mimiru, you're one of us! You're our best friend and you're the saviour of The World… if you just went and died… if you just went and left us… if you never woke up, then- then… I don't know what I'd do…! _

"_And you taught us so much! You went through tough times just like us! Sometimes you felt like you couldn't do it and that you were nobody but that's not true- you're someone who's important and special to us… And Mimiru, you fought so hard for us… and The World you loved so much for the sake of yourself and everyone… you didn't even give it a second thought to sacrifice yourself to everyone…! You can't- you can't give up now!" _

_Subaru stared, misty-eyed at Mimiru. Memories and thoughts of so many things Mimiru and said and done floated through her mind. _

'_Mimiru, will you be alright?'_

'_Yeah, I'll be fine!'_

'_-I won't let you take The World away from us!'_

'_I'm sorry." "I'm sorry for thinking I could save the World. I'm sorry for trying so hard to do something so hollow and pointless like be a Legendary. I'm sorry I'm so weak. I'm sorry that I wanted to give up. And I'm sorry for trying to save The World by myself…'_

'…_because no-one can save The World without their friends by their side to help them!' _

'_All right! Let's take down the hacker and save The World!!!' _

'_If we… use Aura's object then… we can beat him!' _

'_No, Mimiru!' Kite yelled, 'If you do that, you could get hurt-'_

'_It's worth it for The World, isn't it?'_

'_Don't touch it, Kite, I'm gonna be the one to use that object. So if you touch it now then you'll… be destroyed along with me.'_

'_I told you, didn't I? I was gonna be the one to use this object! And I just did!' _

'_This object has no power unless it borrows energy from its user!! So the only way I can take you down, Franzi- is to DESTROY YOU ALONG WITH ME!!!'_

_A single tear rolled down Subaru's cheek. "Mimiru…" _

_Tsukasa watched and her own memories about Mimiru came. How she had always been with her and how she tried so hard and fought her own demons. And how she was such a great friend. _

_Tsukasa watched her friend and shed a tear of her own. _

_The two girls sat in silence and watched Mimiru. There were quiet sniffling sounds of crying. _

_Mimiru heard some weird sniffling noises. She sat up. And stared at her two friends sitting by her, crying. _

"…_what do… you two think you're doing… crying here? Can't someone get some sleep?" she yanked off the breathing mask and exclaimed. _

_Tsukasa and Subaru stared. "…Ah… Mimiru…!" _

"_Mimiru!!" They threw themselves at her and hugged her so tight she started having trouble breathing again. _

_Mimiru coughed and wheezed hard. _

_Subaru was still teary but from tears of joy. "You… finally woke up! I'm so happy!" _

_Mimiru managed a weak smile. _

"_And you know what else?" cried Tsukasa excitedly. "The World's repaired and fixed so it's now completely immune to all hackers! And you were the one who helped with saving The World!" _

"_You'll be coming back into The World soon, won't you?" Subaru asked. _

"…" _Mimiru's face fell a little. "Well… the truth is…" she gripped the bed sheets tight, "I don't think… I'll be going back again. Because I'm so scared… so much has happened- it's really so… frightening. So… I don't want to go back again." _

"…" _Subaru and Tsukasa were silent. _

_Finally Tsukasa spoke up. "I understand how you feel, Mimiru. It was a big effort going back to The World, myself. But… Mimiru, will you promise me… that one day… maybe some day in the near future, or someday next year or someday in a couple more years' time… you'll find the strength… and you'll come back. You don't need to spend so much time in there but just… go back one day to see The World you love and saved… okay?" _

"…_okay!" Mimiru smiled. _

_Subaru smiled. _

"_Y-Yeah! One day I will return! I promise!" Mimiru cried. _

**That whole chapter was in italic! By the way, to inform you about what happened after Mimiru sat up and ripped off her breathing mask and talked for a while… well after she said that last sentence, she had used up so much effort that she collapsed again and the doctors had to come in and fix her up again and Tsukasa and Subaru got kicked out of the hospital for causing the patient too much 'excitement'. Read and review! Next and last chapter out soon!! **


	14. Login 14

**Emichii does not own .Hack. She does, however own this story, and will bash up anyone who steals it and its plot. **

**Welcome to Login 14, this is the very last chappie of ****Legend/Mimiru****. Thanks for reading, people!!! And don't forget to review!! **

_Login 14: The Legend _

"_But… Mimiru, will you promise me… that one day… maybe some day in the near future, or someday next year or someday in a couple more years' time… you'll find the strength… and you'll come back. You don't need to spend so much time in there but just… go back one day to see The World you love and saved… okay?" _

"_Y-Yeah! One day I will return! I promise!"_

Azuu had tears in her eyes.

"Why do I have to be so clumsy?" she cried. "I'm in a game, but I still trip over nothing!"

The new player got to her feet and picked up her Long Spear. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.

She wandered around Mac Anu with her spear in tow.

"What should I do? What should I do?" she thought over and over. "I'm such a noob, I can't even jump properly, I just fall down! And I trip over nothing, even when I'm in a game… and I can barely kill the weakest monsters! I'm so weak… how am I ever gonna find a party?"

Azuu sighed again and kept walking, in gloominess, and staring at the ground. She wasn't watching and she accidentally crashed into someone.

"Ah!! I'm-I'm sorry!" she cried.

The other person turned around and looked at her. She grinned. "Oh! That's okay! I wasn't moving, I was just standing here, so it's my fault too."

Azuu gazed at the character before her. She carried a Heavy Blade and Azuu couldn't help feeling even smaller then usual just by looking at her.

"You… You're a very high level," she stammered. "You must be really strong."

The other PC just smiled. "But, man, it's hard to become strong. You have to train and train and fight all the time. And even then, you'll still get hurt all the time."

Azuu said: "Uhh… my name's Azuu. What's your name?"

"I'm Mimiru."

"Uwaahh?!?" Azuu cried and tripped neatly, landing on her face. She picked herself up, "…you… you're the Legendary Mimiru!!?! I don't believe it!"

Mimiru looked confused. "Legendary? No, I don't think so. This has been my first time back in The World since about 7 months ago. I haven't been on for a long time…" she laughed, "I haven't had enough time to become a Legend."

"No!" Azuu said earnestly. "You really are the Legendary Mimiru! It says on the notice boards. Miss Subaru- the administrator- she put up a notice a long time ago that there was a Legendary called Mimiru who saved The World so that every one of us could keep playing here."

"Subaru…" Mimiru muttered.

"You know her?!?" Azuu asked excitedly. "Miss Subaru is really cool, isn't she? And she's really strong! So is Mr Crim! He's always with Miss Subaru, and he helps her with all the events. He's my role model! I really really like him! That's why I chose to be a Long Spear, just like him!"

"Oh? Is that right?" Mimiru said weakly.

"Anyway…" Mimiru stretched her arms out. "Wanna be in my party?"

"Huh?" Azuu blinked. "What? Really?!?"

"Uh huh!" Mimiru smiled.

"Wow!!! That is so cool!!! I get to party with a Legendary!!!" Azuu cheered.

"Hey, but all Legendaries started off as normal players too," Mimiru said. "The truth is, we're all equal to everyone else. There really isn't anything special or more important about us than everyone else."

Azuu stared at Mimiru, eyes shining. "You mean it?"

Mimiru grinned. "Yeah! And if you try hard enough, you'll be even stronger than me!"

Azuu clutched her Long Spear nervously. "Okay… I can do this!"

She faced the monster. It wasn't a weak monster anymore. Yesterday, when Mimiru partied her, she had trained as hard as possible with her and gotten stronger and levelled up many times.

But she couldn't just depend on others to level her up. She had to train hard by herself as well.

"_Yeah! And if you try hard enough, you'll be even stronger than me!" _

Azuu charged towards the monster and killed it in a couple of shots. She stood victorious and happy as she watched the exp bar go up.

"Azuu!!! We're here!!" Two of her party members waved at her and ran over.

"Hi," she said. She and her friends started walking to the portal to choose which location they were gonna explore next.

"It's kinda funny," said one of her friends. "Lately, you've gotten a lot more braver and you're not afraid to tackle the tougher monsters. And you don't trip over so much anymore!"

"Huh?" Azuu wondered, as she narrowly avoided crashing into a tree.

"I guess you're working hard to be just like Mr Crim!"

"Hey, Azuu? Is Mr Crim still your role model and all that?" One of her friends asked.

Azuu considered this. "Well…" she smiled. "I still like him heaps… but… I met this Legendary the other day and she was really awesome!! So I'm gonna keep playing The World, so that one day I can be just like her!"

"A Legendary? You serious? Which one?"

"Mimiru. Actually, she'd a bit like a Hidden Legend. You don't really find too many people who know all that much about her. And she's mysterious, because people don't hear about her unless they've been in The World for a long time."

"Mimiru!! You came!!" Subaru cried, pulling her friend towards her and hugging her.

Mimiru struggled to escape from Subaru's grip. She pulled the administrator off her. "Hey, I made a promise to Tsukasa, didn't I?"

Subaru smiled. "I knew you'd never break a promise!"

"Mimiru?" Crim's voice drifted in. Mimiru looked up. "Oi! Yo, Crim? How's it been?"

"Cool!" Crim pulled her aside for a moment and whispered, "I've been working with Subaru for a long time now and she still doesn't like me!"

He hung his head in shame.

Mimiru laughed.

"Hmm? What are you laughing at?" Subaru asked.

"Nothing!" Mimiru said. "Hey, but Crim, I met a PC yesterday called Azuu. She's a big fan of yours, Crim! She likes you very much!"

"…" Subaru said nothing.

Crim just said, "But Mimiru, did you know that you've got some fans too?"

"Eh? Really?" Mimiru said.

"There's a rumour going around about a Hidden Legend. Some of them say it doesn't exist, and some say that it's just a rumour. But we know it's true."

"What is it?"

"They say a player sacrificed herself for The World, which resulted in serious injuries in the physical world. And because of that, she managed the save The World for everyone else." said Crim seriously.

"Huh. Really?" Mimiru said blankly.

"That's you, Mimiru!" Subaru cried. "You're really a Legend! And an awesome one! To be called 'a Mysterious and Hidden Legendary' is really something!"

Mimiru was elated. "Wow! That's so cool!!" She swung her blade around excitedly, slicing up a chunk of data from the ceiling. Subaru dodged the falling data.

"Please stop wrecking the ceiling," Crim said.

"Oh! Sorry about that!" Mimiru said. Then she smiled again, "But I'm really happy, I'm so happy I don't know what to do!"

"It's okay, Mimiru," said Subaru. "You deserve it,"

"I've never actually heard of her. You sure she exists? How do you now she's even a Legendary at all?"

Azuu thought about it. Coyly, she smiled and said, "She is!! And even if others might not know about her, she's a Legendary to me!! And one day, I'll be just like her!!"

**THE END **

Emichii: Here's some basic info about Azuu.

Azuu becomes an important character for this fic, though she only appears in the last chapter. Mimiru had already become a Legend, so Azuu was created to be the heroine for a while. Azuu is 13 and she's in her first year of high school. Or as Americans would call it Junior High, or middle school. Or whatever!!! I give up!! Anyway, her character in The World, is a Long Spear, just like Crim. Crim is her hero and she's fanatical about him. She's pretty much a newbie, and she's actually a bit shy in nature, and timid, though she gets braver later on. She meets Mimiru, and later on, she becomes her heroine and Azuu wants to be just like her.

So, that's the end of this .Hack fanfic!!! Thanks for reading everybody!!

Oh and before I forget! Preview for next fanfic coming out next week!!!

Forever friends, Forever Digidestined

I'm goin' back to my specialty- Digimon fanfiction!!! Basically, as usual, this one will have taiora in it. DUH!! This will be a long series kinda thing with lotsa episodes. It will have lots of sub-plots and end with one huge twist at the end. But lemme tell you the first story in it. Matt gets interested in a girl. And the Digidestined are gonna make sure he keeps to a promise they make at the beginning of the fic. 'Nothing comes before the Digidestined friendship, whether its love, food, or someone everyone would like to forget about!'

So be sure to check out FFFD when it's out, kk? Thanks for reading this fic, everybody!! R&R!


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